Most Popular

But first, Democrats are going to have to accept a few facts they may not like.

With the appointment by House Republicans of yet another congressional committee to investigate the tragedy, an investigation that will extend well into the 2016 presidential race, Benghazi is now, unfortunately, a full-on political brawl, not a trial that will turn on legal niceties. Much as it will be necessary to continue to relitigate the facts, it won’t be sufficient. Moral arguments will have to be made.

The Republicans have clearly polled this issue, and they are continuing to pursue it simply because it works for them. Democrats aren’t the only ones who need to mobilize their base in the midterms; the GOP sees Benghazi as the ticket, not only to rallying the faithful but also to papering over, for the moment anyway, deep fissures in their party over broader issues of foreign policy that will surely come to the fore in 2016. Democrats should never tire of pointing out Republican willingness to use four dead Americans for their own partisan motives.

Though the Republicans have not found a scandal in Benghazi, they have thrown up enough gorilla dust to create the atmosphere of scandal. So common sense dictates that Americans who have not been closely following the issue most likely believe there may be more to be learned from continued inquiry, even though all the questions have been asked and answered, and the real scandal here is that Republicans keep pretending they can’t hear the answers. Be that as it may, rather than protesting the investigation, Democrats should welcome the opportunity it presents to go on the offensive.

At least three unconscionable GOP actions regarding Benghazi seem to me to be insufficiently appreciated, even among Democrats, beginning with the fact that House Republicans shirked responsibility by cutting $500 million from the State Department budget for embassy security before the attacks occurred. These are the same Republicans poised to spend millions more on a backward-looking show trial.

Although Benghazi was a night of tragedy, it was also a night of valor. The false Republican charges that America’s brave service men and women somehow sat on their hands as the attacks were underway — and even left people behind to die — not only dishonor the dead but slander the very people who risk their lives to keep us safe. One can only imagine what the conservative goon squads would say if Democrats were trashing the American military like that.

Finally, while professing to care about national security, zealous Republican Benghazi investigators have repeatedly misled the media and even endangered lives with their reckless leaks of classified information. Rep. Darrell Issa, the Republican chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, released sensitive State Department documents to the public without redacting the names of Libyans who were helping the United States, placing the lives of these U.S. assets in danger.

Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton’s own role in Benghazi — which takes front and center stage now — makes for a sterling counterpoint to the disgraceful behavior of her Republican detractors. As secretary of state, Clinton took responsibility, essential in any leader. She took action, appointing a nonpartisan, independent Accountability Review Board to investigate what happened, and she began implementing its 29 recommendations before leaving office to ensure a tragedy like this never happens again. And the secretary was fully transparent with the American people, publicly answering questions before Congress and taking the extraordinary step of making most of the ARB review public — one of only two since 1988 so released.

“Hard Choices” makes the right choice in not engaging in tit for tat with the Benghazi truthers. It reclaims the moral high ground from the pretenders by calling out her critics’ base motives. It is not at all defensive, because the author knows there is nothing there, there is nothing to hide. In a chapter obtained by POLITICO, Clinton writes, “I will not be a part of a political slugfest on the backs of dead Americans. It’s just plain wrong, and it’s unworthy of our great country. Those who insist on politicizing the tragedy will have to do so without me.”

Democrats ought to follow Clinton’s lead, remembering that the desperate GOP ticket in 2012 already tried to win an election by exploiting Benghazi once. It failed spectacularly. If the GOP wants to try it again, Democrats should say “Bring. It. On.”

David Brock is founder and chairman of the super PAC American Bridge and founder of Correct The Record. He is co-author of “The Benghazi Hoax.”